As a longtime resident of Washington, D.C., I’m supposed to be outraged that President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of federal forces, especially the National Guard, to fight crime and address the fact that the D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city,” as he described it.

On the contrary, I’m glad he has done it. 

The White House’s fact sheet mentioned the recent high-profile fatal shootings of two Israeli Embassy staffers and a congressional intern, as well as a brutal assault on an administration staffer. But it could have cited many other heinous crimes, including attacks on members of Congress.

D.C. police force lacks enough officers

The D.C. government has shown itself to be inept at addressing the situation or even acknowledging that there is a situation that needs to be addressed. In fact, it played a significant role in creating the current crime crisis.

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Its efforts to defund the Metropolitan Police Department have led to major staffing problems, with roughly 800 vacancies that have proved difficult to fill.

In many respects, Trump’s federal “surge” is just making up for that deficiency and allowing armed police officers to spend more time in areas where the crime problem is particularly bad while federal officers assist them.

Critics claim that Trump lacks the authority to do this. But Washington is a federal enclave that gives the president and Congress plenary authority to act.

While DC authorities were delegated the authority to exercise local control under the Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress and the president retain the authority to step in when they deem it appropriate to do so, as Congress did recently when it nullified the D.C. Council’s attempt to revise and water down Washington’s criminal code.

Critics also claim that crime in Washington is at a 30-year low. Saying the crime situation here is the best it has been in 30 years is akin to saying my golf game is the best it has been in 30 years—even if it's true, it's still deplorable.

Police commander accused of falsifying crime data

A D.C. police commander has been placed on leave and is under investigation in the manipulation of crime data to make it seem as though violent crime is dropping more precipitously than is actually the case. But the problem may be more widespread than just one rogue officer.

Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the claim that violent crime has dropped dramatically in the District of Columbia is “preposterous.”

Pemberton added: “When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” such as reporting a shooting or stabbing as an assault and a carjacking as a theft.

You can fudge statistics, but not dead bodies. Washington police recorded 187 homicides for 2024. Is that better than the previous year? Yes. There were 274 homicides recorded for 2023.

Even so, D.C. still ranked near the top in terms of per capita homicide and violent crime rates for a major city.

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Moreover, from 2009 to 2019, there were an average of 142 homicides per year (with a low of 88 in 2012 and a high of 166 in 2019) in Washington. That’s lower than the total in 2024. And the odds of a victim dying while being assaulted or robbed in the city has risen 341% since 2012.

Need additional proof? In 2018, D.C. residents experienced 148 carjackings; in 2023, it was 957. While reported carjackings were down to 497 in 2024 (assuming the reported statistics are accurate, which seems doubtful), that is hardly a 30-year low.

Crime, of course, is not evenly distributed throughout Washington. The situation is particularly bad in Anacostia, where crime is nearly 40% higher than in the rest of D.C. President Trump visited the area on Aug. 21 to personally thank law enforcement officers for what they are doing.

More than 100 individuals have already been arrested, mostly for firearms and drug offenses. Residents in Anacostia, as much as anybody else in D.C., deserve to live in a neighborhood where kids can play in the streets and people can live and work in safety.

Since the president federalized the police forces, crime is down significantly, according to the D.C. Police Union and the Joint Task Force District of Columbia. These results are very promising.

The legions of visitors, federal employees, elected representatives, students, interns, residents and others who live and work in our nation’s capital deserve to walk the streets and explore the myriad historical and cultural attractions that this city has to offer in safety.

Hopefully, we are finally headed down that path.